


A rose by any other name

by Immiams



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Boys In Love, Eventual relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), love bug au, pair of imbeciles, set during season 3 (kind of)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 14:41:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13215939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immiams/pseuds/Immiams
Summary: This is basically a love bug au except Keith gets attacked by a weird flower instead of a bug, so there’s that.Also, I messed with the side effects a little bit.Also, this is really fluffy and gross, just like every other love bug fic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I know I just posted a new fic a couple of days ago but I’m having trouble writing the next chapter for that so here’s this in the meantime. 
> 
> As always I hope you enjoy this story.

“I can’t believe you actually agreed to this.” Lance muttered as he trudged across yet another long field. “I mean, that last mission was weird enough but this? This is just embarrassing.”

Keith ignored him. Lance figured at least half of his attempts at conversation were lost on Keith. The guy must have some kind of next level selective hearing because Lance had never met anyone so ignorant in all of his life. 

He sighed, just loud enough that Keith might have possibly heard it, and turned his attention toward the scenery instead. The environment of this planet was absolutely spectacular. At first Lance had been cautious about traversing an alien planet in the middle of the night but now that he was here it made a lot of sense. Almost every single living plant on the planet shone with bioluminescent light.

Every single leaf, stem and flower just seemed to come to life at night. Of course he knew that they were, in fact, trudging through a living ecosystem but the glow just seemed to add a new dimension to Lance’s understanding of fauna. It was like every single glowing blade of grass was its own tiny being. Lance felt bad when he stepped on them, so much so that he put in extra effort to avoid the grass altogether. He’d jump in every bare dirt patch in sight if it meant those little glowy blades of grass could keep on glowing.

Keith’s idiot detector seemed to activate right on time because he turned around just as Lance stumbled and almost fell flat on his face in attempt to avoid a grassy patch. The detector was obviously working well because he had definitely detected the idiot.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, placing his hands on his hips, a trait that he had no doubt learned from their former leader, Shiro. Of course, Keith just had to look great doing that too. With the colourful lights shining against his raven black hair and equally dark eyes he looked like some kind of extra terrestrial super model. 

Lance huffed. Just his luck. First he’d been forced to go on a futile mission with Keith in the middle of the night and now Keith was looking down at him like he was a dumbass. “I feel bad stepping on the grass.” Lance announced awkwardly. It seemed weird now that he’d said it aloud.

Keith looked down at his boots, lifting one up to stare at the flattened grass where his shoe had once been. The patch had become discoloured and dim after being crushed “It’s just grass.” Keith shrugged.

Lance was about to argue that ‘we’re just humans, does that mean we deserve to be stepped on?’ But to his surprise the grass where Keith’s boot had been suddenly sprung back to life and started glowing again. Lance pouted and ran to catch up to his teammate. “It’s not just grass.” Lance argued. “It’s cool glowy grass.” He explained with excitement. He even flickered his fingers on either side of his head and made an ‘oooh’ sound which earned him a laugh from Keith.

“You’re an idiot.” Keith announced.

Lance just shrugged. “Yeah, you keep telling me that.” He muttered.

They walked in relative silence for a while until Lance worked up the courage to ask the same question he’d asked at least five times already. “Did we really just come down here for a couple of ugly flowers?” He asked, hoping that for once Keith would give him an answer. According to Allura, the flowers they were searching for were considered a respectful present in this part of the solar system. Seeing as they were expected to form an alliance tomorrow with a planet full of ‘prickly’ inhabitants, this seemed to be a good idea. The only problem was that Lance and Keith had to slug it out in the middle of the night on a warm, alien planet just for a couple of flowers. Was it really worth their efforts?

Keith rolled his eyes, his face lit only by the bright grass below him and the two moons above their heads. It was still pretty dark but it wasn’t quite dark enough to cover Keith’s attitude. “You’ve asked me this at least five times already.” Keith groaned.

“Ha! So you were listening!” Lance exclaimed. “You know if you had of answered the first time I wouldn’t have asked again.”

“In that case.. Yes, we are here just for ‘a couple of ugly flowers’. Now, would you stop asking dumb questions?” Keith seemed pretty irritated today and Lance guessed that it wasn’t his constant nagging that was the problem.

“Not quite.” Lance pointed his finger at Keith. “Was this really your idea?”

That seemed to get Keith’s attention. His eyebrows scrunched together and Lance was pretty sure that was a glare directed at him. “No, why? Who told you that?”

“I knew it!” Lance muttered, staring at Keith. “When Allura came in to tell me about the mission she’d said it was your idea. I called her out on it and she was all like-“ Lance put on his best Allura impersonation. “‘What, you don’t think Keith can come up with good ideas on his own?’ Which is ridiculous because if she thought it was a good idea, why didn’t she claim it? It was obviously her idea. So then I was like-“

Keith cut him off which was probably a good thing because Lance had started rambling. “She’s just trying to get back at me because I wouldn’t let her come down here.” Keith muttered, not caring to explain himself.

“What do you mean?” Lance asked. He was watching Keith intently now, interested in the juicy gossip, and hadn’t noticed that he was about to crush the flower they’d been searching for with the sole of his shoe. Luckily, Keith was paying attention and he threw his arm out to stop Lance mid-stride.

Lance pulled his shoe back and crouched in front of the glowing pink flower. Keith followed suit, pulling a small shovel out of the mesh bag he’d brought with him. Lance was surprised they even had shovels in space, he figured they would have found a more effective tool for digging considering the crazy technology he’d been introduced to lately. “Not much of a looker is it?” He observed.

Keith made an ‘I dunno’ sound and started digging. Typical.

Lance immediately recognised Keith’s poor digging skills and yanked the shovel out of his hands. He wondered if Keith had any respect for the environment at all or if he was one of those people who got a kick out of stomping on ants and stabbing trees. “Are you trying to mutilate the poor thing?” Lance asked, pushing the shovel more carefully into the dirt, further away from the flower’s roots.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Just cause you’re good at everything.” Usually Lance would have taken that as a compliment but Keith said it in such a tone that Lance felt insulted.

Lance decided to be the better man and ignore Keith’s taunting. “So. You didn’t answer my question.. again. Why didn’t you let Allura come with you on this mission?”

Keith opened the mesh bag wide enough for Lance to drop the flower in without destroying it. Lance got up and started moving toward another patch of flowers just ahead of them. Keith followed him, only answering once his armoured knees touched the grass. “She looked exhausted. Everyone did. I just thought it might be a good idea for them to get some rest before tomorrow.”

Lance stopped his digging, surprised by Keith’s comment. He couldn’t help but think how mature it was of Keith to make a decision like that, especially considering that Keith looked like he was trying really hard to hide the exhaustion in his own posture. When Lance turned to face Keith he noticed a twinge of uncertainty in his eyes. At first he thought it was just the reflective green light off the grass playing tricks on his eyes but then Keith looked down again and Lance nudged him in the shoulder. “Not a bad idea.” He reassured with an encouraging grin.

Keith’s thankful smile was lopsided and small but it was there and Lance was glad he could at least help in some way.

“One question though. Why’d you bring me along?” Lance asked, once again going back to his digging.

Keith seemed uncomfortable again and Lance was courteous enough not to acknowledge it. “Well, you said you liked ground missions so I figured you wouldn’t mind as much about losing a few hours of sleep.”

Keith spoke like it was no big deal but little did he know, it was a big deal to Lance. Lance didn’t even remember mentioning to Keith that he preferred ground missions like this -He must have said it a long time ago- but somehow Keith remembered. Maybe he did actually listen to him sometimes...

“Oh.” Lance replied, placing another flower into the bag. He wondered how many more flowers they needed as he moved onto the next one less than a metre away. “When did I say that?”

Keith took a moment to think before he seemed to remember. “You remember that planet with that weird beach with the blue sand?”

Lance remembered. He had really liked that planet. The beach reminded him of home and for one of the first times since he’d left earth, he’d actually felt somewhat safe. That’s why he liked ground missions. Sometimes he saw things that reminded him of home and it probably sounded stupid but it actually gave him hope that one day he would go back to earth. “Yeah, I remember. Blue sand, pink ocean, right.”

Keith nodded. “Well we were arguing about which was better -The stars or the ocean- and you said you liked the ocean because it was loud and I said that was stupid and then you said I was stupid and that ground missions were your favourite missions as long as I wasn’t invited.”

“Oh..” Lance answered. That did actually sound like something he would say. Maybe not so much now but definitely a long time ago. He wondered if Keith had only remembered that because Lance had been an asshole to him. “You know I didn’t actually mean that.” He added for good measure.

“I know.” Keith muttered, opening the bag so Lance could place the flower inside with the others. “Anyway,” Keith seemed keen to change the subject. “We should only need one more and then we can go.” Then he got up and began making his way toward another patch of flowers that he’d spotted not far away. 

Lance watched Keith leave, trying to figure out whether Keith was actually pissed at him or not. He could never figure Keith out. One minute he was fine and they were just messing around, the next he seemed ready to combust with rage. It gave Lance major whiplash sometimes.

As he watched Keith, Lance found his attention shifting to a very bright white flower, not far from where Keith stood. As he watched the white glow he got a strange feeling of familiarity. It was so strong that he felt the urge to go over and pull it out of the ground.

“Lance.” Keith called, pulling his attention away. He had his hands on his hips again and Lance sighed, remembering that he was the one holding the shovel. “Are you coming or not?”

Lance pushed himself off the ground and wandered over to Keith, only stopping briefly on the way to inspect the white flower. It really did look familiar but Lance had no recollection of exactly where he’d seen it. It looked similar to the white Lillie’s they had on earth except that it was just so plain. Long, white petals curled outwards into a point. At the centre of the flower were three thin, green stamen. The stem was thick and bare apart from a few leaves that protruded out of the base.. and that was it. Just an ordinary white flower. There was nothing memorable about it, yet Lance was certain he’d seen it before.

He pushed his thoughts away, instead, joining Keith so that they could extract the last flower and get off this planet. Surely Keith wanted to get back to the castle as soon as possible and so did Lance.

Lance barely even got his shovel in the ground before he was involuntarily glancing at the flower again. He noticed Keith looking over his shoulder anxiously as well. “Why do you keep looking over there?” He asked. “You’re freaking me out.”

Lance blinked up at him before nodding in the direction of the flower. Keith followed his gaze. “You ever seen a flower like that before?” He asked. He had an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, like he was forgetting something important.

Keith got up and sauntered over to the flower to get a better look. He dropped down next to it, hand floating just above the petals like he wasn’t sure whether or not he should touch it. “Just looks like a normal flower to me. Why, do you know what it is?”

Lance shook his head, placing the shovel and the last flower in the pouch and dusting off his gloved hands. “No. I just feel like it’s important or something..”

Lance really wished he hadn’t said that. He was just reaching for the flower pouch when he heard a pained hiss from the direction Keith had gone. Lance’s bayard activated before he even got the chance to see what had happened. When he did turn, his bayard dropped to his side and he started running.

Keith was staring down at his hand with a pained expression. His teeth gritted into a snarl and his other hand clenched around the grass beneath him.

“What happened?” Lance shouted, dropping to his knees to face his teammate. He reached for Keith’s hand but he pulled away.

“Nothing.” Keith pulled his hand toward his chest, hiding it from view. In absence of Keith’s hand Lance noticed the flower lying on its side in the grass. It wasn’t glowing anymore, just a dull, flat white. Lance probably wouldn’t have even seen them if it weren’t for the luminescent green grass below, spikes. Long, sharp thorns grew upwards out of the stem. Lance was absolutely certain they hadn’t been there before and some of them weren’t even there now, half of them had snapped off.

“God, Keith you can’t just go around ripping alien plants out of the ground.” He muttered, stubbornly pulling at Keith’s wrist so that he could inspect his hand. “Ah shit, you sure you didn’t grab a handful of cactus instead?”

Keith groaned at the joke and then winced when Lance reached for one of the thorns that had lodged itself in Keith’s glove. “You’re the one who said it was important.” He argued.

Lance’s mouth dropped open. Of course Keith blamed him. Well it wasn’t his idea to go over and rip the thing out of the ground. He was just commenting on the flowers appearance. “So this is my fault?”

Lance pulled Keith’s hand closer to his face so that he could really take a good look. He couldn’t see shit because Keith still had his glove on.

“No. I wasn’t blaming you.” Keith replied. He sounded pretty tense and Lance wondered if maybe he was in a bit more pain than he was giving off.

Lance bit his lip. “Is it alright if I take this off?” He asked, referring to the glove. Keith nodded and Lance slowly eased it off, he tried not to pay too much attention to the way Keith pulled away with every movement. It was definitely hurting him to some extent. And no shit. There was blood everywhere. 

Lance discarded Keith’s glove in the grass and inspected his hand. Now he couldn’t even see half of Keith’s palm because it was pooling with blood. Even Keith was cringing at the sight, his face slightly paler than it had been a minute ago. He looked ill and Lance just hoped it was the weird lighting of the planet that made him look so white.

They made it back to the red lion without too much difficulty. Keith held his hand above his elbow just like Lance had instructed but it really didn’t seem to be helping. The blood spilled past Keith’s wrist and had already started staining his white armour.

Lance tried not to look at it, instead busying himself by placing the white flower in a container that he found along with the first aid kit. He wanted to wrap Keith’s hand in a million bandages but figured that wouldn’t help until they got the rest of the thorns out. What the fuck kind of flower could do something like that? Keith was literally bleeding out in Lance’s lion.

Lance got ahold of Allura as he flew back to the lion. He told her about what happened and asked her to get the first aid kit ready. Allura didn’t seem too stressed about the situation but she also wasn’t in the pilot seat while their friend bled to death in the back.

—-

Lance had only been away from the medical room for about two minutes before Allura could be heard in his paladin helmet, desperately calling him back.

“What about the sample?” Lance asked. He gripped the clear plastic container in his hand, inside was the disturbing white flower. The more Lance looked at it the more uncomfortable he became. He’d been sent to find Pidge so that she could run a scan on the sample and maybe find out if it was poisonous, and honestly Lance really wanted to get that flower to her as soon as possible. He didn’t want to look at it anymore. It was freaking him out.

“Bring it with you. I think I know what it is.” Allura said in his ear. “And please hurry.”

Lance huffed out a sigh and turned around, running back the way he’d come. When he reached the hallway that joined with the medbay, his heart beat a little faster. Someone was screaming in agony, most likely Keith, and it was tugging at Lance’s heart. 

Lance heard Allura shouting over the commotion, her nerves shot to pieces. “Keith. You need to breathe.” What is happening? He’d literally been gone for three minutes and everything had gone to shit.

When Lance burst through the door he wasn’t really sure what he’d been expecting but it definitely wasn’t this. Keith and Allura were both on the floor. Keith curled in on himself, screaming about something hurting. Allura was right beside him, trying to get Keith’s attention.  
Coran was standing on the other side of the room, pulling so hard on his moustache that Lance feared the thing might actually detach from his face.

“What’s happening?” Lance shouted over Keith’s persistent screaming. Man, did that boy have a pair of lungs on him.

Allura looked up, her face portraying so many different emotions that Lance couldn’t even keep track. “Lance. Take your gloves off.” 

Lance replied with a ‘what the heck?’ look and Allura looked about ready to throttle him. He quickly removed his gloves and scampered across the room to where she was crouching over Keith. As soon as he was in range Allura grabbed his arm and yanked him forward, placing his palm on the back of Keith’s hand.

Lance was about to ask her what on earth she was doing when suddenly the screaming stopped and the room went dead silent. Keith’s body, previously rigid with stress, had slumped and he let out a long shaky breath. Then he looked up at Lance with the dopiest smile and Lance’s face scrunched up with confusion. Why the quiznack was Keith looking at him like that?

Allura gasped and pulled Lance’s hand away like she’d touched something hot and Keith’s face instantly went back to normal. He shot upright, shivering. His eyes went from his own hand to Lance’s and then over to Allura. “What the hell?” He asked in complete and utter confusion. Lance felt the same way.

Allura pressed her palm to her forehead. “Oh quiznack.” She muttered.

The Alteans made sure to get all their medical supplies ready before explaining. Lance was currently situated beside Keith who was halfway through getting a bunch of spikes pulled out of his hand. He’d been ordered not to leave Keith’s side until Allura had finished explaining.

“Here’s the deal.” Allura announced, her head dropping slightly sideways as she talked, like it was physically hurting her to explain herself. “That flower that you so carelessly pulled out of the ground is going to put you through hell for the next two weeks.”

Keith rolled his eyes like he thought Allura was being over-dramatic. Lance just waited patiently for her to continue. “Basically,” Allura continued. “You two aren’t going to be able to leave each others side until the poison leaves Keith’s system.”

That caught Lance’s attention.

“What’re you talking about?” Keith asked, glancing over at Lance with an unreadable expression.

“That pain you were experiencing earlier was a side effect of the poison, a reaction to Lance... leaving you alone. See, once that poison enters your system and you make physical contact with someone, that person becomes somewhat of a lifeline for you.” Allura shook her head like she didn’t know how to explain this without confusing everyone in the room. “These flowers were quite common among teenagers back on Altea. Used for practical jokes or even between lovers.” 

Physical contact? Lance thought back to what had happened. Yeah, he’d definitely made contact with Keith, when he was inspecting his hand, so what? Now they were stuck with each other for two weeks?

Coran chipped in then. He’d previously been extracting thorns out of Keith’s hand but now he reached for the bandages. “Ever heard of a love bug?” He asked them both.

Keith’s eyes went wide and Lance nearly choked on his own spit. Coran seemed to take that as a yes. “The effects are quite similar to those of a love bug sting. The victim -Keith, in this case- will experience immense pain when their.. partner, for lack of a better word -that’s you, Lance- Is not present.”

“Present?” Lance muttered. “How present?”

Allura was very careful about how she approached her next sentence. “Stay within sight and he’ll be fine for now.” She explained. “Contact will help with discomfort.” Allura reached for Keith’s left, uninjured hand and directed it toward the side of Lance’s torso where there was only a layer of material separating them. Keith gasped at the contact. Lance just sat there with what was probably a really dumb expression on his face.

“You feel that?” Allura asked.

Lance looked over and noticed that Keith was staring at the ground with an uncomfortable look on his face.. and, was he blushing? Keith nodded in response to Allura’s question, eyes never leaving their spot on the floor.

Feel what? Lance wondered. He didn’t feel anything other than a slight blush rising in his cheeks, caused by Keith’s hand being pressed against his side.

Wait, no. It was gone now. Keith had removed his hand.

“There’s also direct contact, like without clothing blocking the contact, if necessary. I really don’t suggest that as it has a few strange side effects but eventually you won’t have a choice. The pain will most likely become worse as the poison runs its course but we’ll discuss that when it happens.”

Everyone in the room was silent for a minute as they thought over what exactly was happening. Lance still wasn’t sure what that was. From what he’d gathered, Keith had been poisoned by this flower and then because Lance touched him they were now connected.. somehow. So when Lance leaves Keith’s sight, Keith experiences some kind of excruciating pain so basically they’re stuck with each other for a week but, also, when Keith touches Lance he gets this really weird, derpy look on his face? He guessed it made enough sense.

The only question he could think to ask was. “Does this mean we have to sleep together?”

Keith whipped around and look at him, his eyes wide and his brows scrunched together.

“I’ll let you two work that out for yourselves.” Allura sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance wasn’t at all surprised when Keith told him that he wasn’t sharing a bed with him. He wouldn’t expect anything less. Keith was stubborn and independent. There was no way he’d willingly accept this and there was definitely no way he’d let Lance know if he was suffering.

Even though Lance reassured him that he didn’t mind, because honestly, they didn’t really have a choice in the matter, and after seeing Keith in so much pain earlier Lance promised himself that he would never let that happen again. Keith was still adamant on spending the night in his own room. Which was acceptable, he could see why Keith might think it was weird but they got along well enough now and Lance knew that he could be a little overbearing at times but he’d try his best not to be too annoying.

Lance also wasn’t surprised when Keith showed up outside his door a minute later, sitting on the floor with his hand clutching at his chest in discomfort. 

What he hadn’t expected was for Keith to look so god damn soft in his pyjamas. 

He wore a loose black shirt and equally comfortable-looking red shorts, his pillow gripped in his other hand and his hair doing god knows what. All while he stared at Lance like he’d just saved his life. This was a side to the new black paladin that Lance had never seen before. And he might have liked it.

As soon as Keith made eye contact with Lance his body relaxed immensely, though he still seemed tense as always. Lance figured that was something that would never change.

“I’m sorry.” He said. His voice was so sincere that Lance really felt for him. This must be so incredibly embarrassing for Keith and it was only going to get worse. “Can I please stay here tonight?”

Lance had to put in a lot of effort in order to keep his face straight. He’d definitely never expected to hear those words coming from Keith. Ever. It made his heart do a little dance in his chest. He steeled himself and smiled, stretching out his hand to help Keith up off the ground. Keith unknowingly took it. 

As soon as their hands touched Lance felt a shiver run through his spine. Then, a moment later he felt warmth spreading from his hand, up his arm and through the rest of his body. Any and all tension in his body seemed to melt away. If not for his shock, it would have been a nice experience. The feeling was artificial and strange, like nothing he’d ever felt before but still very comforting.

Okay. Calm down. Allura had warned them about this. Direct contact equals weird feelings for both of them. This was normal. Well, not normal. This was yet another side effect of the venom in Keith’s system. 

They could deal with this.

For some reason Keith thought it would be a good idea to intertwine his fingers with Lance’s. Lance went stiff and he stared at Keith with wide eyes. Keith was standing in front of him now, his hand loosely intertwined with Lance’s and his eyes glazed and light. 

Lance pulled in a quick breath, settling himself. This is what had happened before. Allura told them that this whole contact thing would effect Keith a whole lot more than it did Lance. And no shit, Keith looked like he’d been hitting way too much of the happy juice. 

This wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. Lance slowly pried his hand away from Keith. Keith put up little protest, only lazily trying to grip onto Lance’s other hand once he’d been pried from the first.

Once the contact was broken Keith’s conscience seemed to slam back into his body and now it was his turn to be shocked. “Oh my god!” Keith gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t-“

“It’s okay, Keith. I felt it too.” Lance replied quietly. He was staring at his own hands now, shoulders tighter than they had been when Keith had a hold of his hand. Why had that felt so comfortable? They were just holding hands.

“What?” Keith asked. His voice stumbled slightly with what Lance guessed was embarrassment.

“Comfort, warmth.” Lance replied. He dropped his hands down beside him, moving to the side so that Keith could enter his room. 

Keith swallowed and stepped past him. He made sure to keep his hands well away as he passed Lance by the door. “It’s just a weird reaction to the poison or venom or whatever.” Lance wondered aloud.

Keith nodded uncomfortably. He looked like he’d been dragged through the ringer. Dark circles under his eyes indicated exhaustion and his body was suddenly very closed off, arms carefully crossed over his chest in discomfort. As Lance had noticed before, Keith’s hair was also all over the place. “Let’s not let that happen again.” Keith muttered shyly, eyes downcast.

“Yeah. Good idea.” Lance agreed. He jumped into his bed and shuffled over to make space, looking toward Keith expectantly. Lance hadn’t shared a bed with anyone since before the Garrison. He didn’t want to say he was excited about the idea of sharing a bed with Keith but a deep dark part of him kind of was. Not sharing a bed specifically with Keith, just sharing a bed with someone in general, of course. He wasn’t interested in Keith at all. Lance just liked having people close to him. 

Keith looked very unsure of himself in that moment. “You want me to..?”

Lance’s thoughts turned mischievous and he smirked. “What, were you expecting to sleep in the toilet?”

Keith scoffed. “Of course not! It’s just.. well isn’t this a bit weird?” He asked, referring to them sleeping in a bed together. 

Definitely weird. Not at all exciting.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Well, Yeah. But something tells me that things are only going to get weirder throughout the course of this week. So the quicker you embrace it the easier it’ll be.”

Lance could tell Keith didn’t want to, but he gave in. He still managed to look unhappy about it though. Keith placed his pillow on the bed, right next to Lance’s and crawled in awkwardly.

“See. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Lance asked as Keith made himself comfortable on the other side of his bed. He left plenty of room between them, both for Lance’s sake and probably his own too.

“I guess.” Keith replied. He laid his head down on the pillow, lying on his back. Lance followed suit, opting to lay on his side instead. 

Lance watched with curiosity as Keith defiantly stared at the ceiling in silence. He wanted to say something just to make the situation less uncomfortable. The only problem was that he had no idea what to say. Usually in a situation like this Lance would find something to tease Keith about but he didn’t really feel like that was a good idea right now.

Keith’s eyes flicked in Lance’s direction and then back at the ceiling where he continued to glare at nothing. Then his eyes were on Lance again for only a second before he was glaring once again. Lance probably wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t curious about it. The lights were set to low, barely allowing any sight at all but Lance still noticed Keith’s internal struggle.

“You got a problem with my ceiling?” Lance asked. His curiosity had won over enough to get him back into teasing Keith again. Even though he knew it probably wasn’t the best idea.

Keith’s stare stayed dead straight, refusing to even glance in Lance’s direction. “No.” He spat. Then, after a long pause, “I’ve got a problem with how stupid this is.”

Lance chuckled which was enough to draw Keith’s frustrated gaze. He tried to stifle it for Keith’s sake. “It is pretty stupid.” He huffed.

“And uncomfortable. And inconvenient. And super fucking weird.” Keith muttered.

“It is. But imagine if you were stuck with like.. Pidge, instead of me. She would make your next two weeks a living hell.” Lance laughed just thinking about. Those two would definitely kill each other if they were stuck together for more than a day. Getting either one of them to socialise for more than ten minutes was hard enough, putting them together would be hell on earth... or, in space?

Keith’s face faltered into a grimace at the thought. Then his gaze intensified on Lance. His expression cautious. “And you’re not going to make the next two weeks a living hell?”

Lance shrugged, which is hard to do when you’re lying on one of your shoulders but he did his best. “I’ll try not to. Promise.” Lance replied. “But if I do get annoying you need to tell me. I won’t know unless you tell me.” He said seriously.

Keith nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He agreed. “And you let me know too, if I’m being annoying. I’ll go sit in the corner or something.” He looked over his shoulder toward the other side of Lance’s room.

Lance tried to smother his laughter but it came out louder than it would have anyway. “Should we hang a ‘timeout’ sign on the wall so we know which corner it is?” He asked sarcastically.

Keith punched him hard in the arm and Lance may or may not have yelped in surprise. “Don’t patronise me. This is a serious conversation.”

“Damn, why you gotta be so violent.” Lance chuckled, rubbing his arm. “Anyway, should we set out some more rules? You know.. so we know each others boundaries or whatever.”

“Yes. You go first.” Keith offered. At this point he’d completely flipped himself over on the bed so that he was now facing Lance, ready to listen, his deep purple irises focused solely on Lance. It was almost intimidating.

“Well first of all, no punching.” He announced. Keith rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. “And no leaving your nasty underwear on my floor. There’s a laundry basket next to the drawers, that’s mine. You wanna wash your clothes you get your own basket. Got it?”

“Are you insinuating that I’m the kind of person who would leave dirty clothes all over the floor?” Keith asked, clearly insulted.

“Yes.” Lance deadpanned. “Now, do you understand? If I find one item of clothing on my floor, you’re getting banished.”

“Okay, got it.” Keith whined. “Is that all of your rules?” 

“No.” Lance replied. “I’ll let you know the rest when I think of them.” Lance was sure that by the end of the week he would have at least a hundred rules that Keith would have to follow. He was sure that at least sixty percent of them would be bullshit that he made up just to get on his nerves but Keith didn’t have to know that.

“Should I be writing them down? I feel like there’s going to be a lot.” Keith questioned. He must have already realised what Lance was up to.

Lance ignored the question. “What about you? You got any rules for me?”

Keith tapped his chin thoughtfully, his mouth upturned into a smug grin. “No flirting with random strangers.” Lance cocked a suspicious brow at him. Keith continued, unfazed by what his words implied. “While I love watching you fail from afar it may become kind of uncomfortable to witness up close. I don’t want to watch you get hardcore rejected all week if I have to be standing less than twenty metres away when it happens. It’s just too embarrassing.”

Lance scoffed. “I do not get hardcore rejected! The ladies love this action.” Lance motioned to himself enthusiastically. Keith was laughing at him now but for some reason Lance couldn’t find the energy to be annoyed about it. “Also, no weird business. Especially if we’re going to be sharing a bed.” He cringed.

Lance could definitely agree with that rule. Any level of weird business was likely to make the next two weeks unbearable. It didn’t matter how weird things got, they’d still have to stick together for that time so Lance wanted it to be as comfortable as possible. “Okay, is that it?” Lance asked.

“I’m sure I’ll think of others.” Keith replied rather mischievously. “There’s an endless supply. I just can’t think of all of them right now.”

Lance, feeling wounded, rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Can I go to sleep now? I’m pretty sure we have to get up in like.. three hours.” He rubbed at his eyes. The comfort of his bed was starting to make him tired and he did not want to wake up in the morning with bags under his eyes.

“Wait. I have one more question.” Keith announced.

“What is it?”

Keith hesitated for a moment. As if he wasn’t sure how to word the question. “How am I meant to get any sleep if it hurts when I can’t see you?” He tried.

Lance scrunched his eyebrows together, suddenly perplexed. That was a very good question. It’s not like Keith could sleep with his eyes open. “Oh.” Lance replied. He thought for a moment. Allura had said that contact helped with discomfort. 

Keith just had to know that he was there.

Lance reached out and grabbed Keith’s uninjured hand, placing it on his chest where there was material between them so Keith didn’t go all weird again. Keith looked at him like he was the one being weird and Lance just sighed. “Close your eyes.” Lance instructed. Keith cautiously closed his eyes and they both waited for a few moments. “Does it hurt now?”

“No.” Keith replied, opening his eyes once again. He seemed uncomfortable now, with his hand pressed against Lance’s chest. Lance realised that this was kind of a weird position.

They settled into something a little more comfortable and less awkward. Lance shuffled closer on the bed and Keith readjusted his hand so that it was barely pressed against Lance’s side. 

“Goodnight, Keith.” Lance whispered once they’d gotten settled.

“Goodnight.” Keith muttered.

—

Lance woke to a quiet rustling coming from the other side of his room. When he opened his eyes he was momentarily startled to see Keith standing by his drawers. He had his back to him but Lance could tell it was Keith because of his ridiculous haircut.

Lance took a few moments to consider all the reasons why Keith would be in his room until he landed on the correct one, which just so happened to be the weirdest reason. He’d somewhat hoped that last night’s events had been some kind of crazy dream. 

Apparently they hadn’t.

“What are you doing?” Lance muttered, his voice still heavy with sleep. He propped himself up on one elbow, wiping at his tired face. The question was enough to make Keith jump, his body tense as he turned toward Lance. Like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have.

Keith took a second to consider him before he explained himself with a simple. “Looking at your stuff.” He said it like it was the most normal thing one could ever do. Lance suddenly wondered which items he’d left on his drawers. He prayed there was nothing embarrassing there.

Keith must have guessed Lance’s next question because he was already answering it. “I got bored and I couldn’t leave so...” he shrugged.

“So the next best option was to snoop through my stuff?” Lance asked as he sat up properly on the bed, crossing his legs underneath him.

Keith, who was now leaning back against Lance’s drawers, shrugged once again. “Do you have any other suggestions?”

“Sleep.. Did you even get any?”

“Not really.” Keith muttered dryly. “Actually, I feel like I’m dying right now.”

“Yeah? Don’t die on me yet. We’ve still gotta meet those nasty Chalinians. And something tells me we’re going to need our leader for this mission.”

That got Keith back to his normal self as he seemed to reach a new level of exasperation and he put his head in his hands.

Good one Lance, you just crushed his dreams. 

“Anyway.” Lance moved on. “Let’s just see if we can get through breakfast first without being teased to death.”

Keith removed his head from his hands and sighed. “You think they all know?” Keith asked.

“If they don’t know already then they’ll find out eventually.” Lance replied, pushing himself away from the warmth of his bed.

—

Breakfast was.. uncomfortable. As soon as Lance and Keith entered the room Pidge was staring them down with that glint in her eyes that could only mean trouble. 

She knew.

Lance braced himself, following Keith around to the other side of the table where they both sat silently. After they’d gotten out of bed they both hastily changed into their paladin armour, ready for their mission. By the time they’d finished and met up again Keith had been limping and looked slightly distressed but once again when he saw Lance he relaxed. It was a strange experience for both of them.

Breakfast had already been served -goo, as usual- when they walked in and the other team members were all eating. Lance was seated between Keith and Coran, with Allura at the head of the table and Pidge, Hunk and Shiro sitting across from them, their usual set up. Everything was the same as usual, except it was quiet. 

Lance knew exactly what everyone was thinking. The air felt awkward so he decided to speak up. “Any news from the Chalinians yet?”

That seemed to get the conversational ball rolling. “They want us to meet them in about an hour.” Shiro replied. “We’ll land the castle just west of the city, where we’ll meet up with the councillor. No weapons allowed though. The Chalinians have a rule against weapons entering the city.”

“That’s lame.” Pidge said before pushing another scoop of goo into her mouth. “How are we supposed to defend ourselves without weapons?” She asked around the mouthful of food.

“Hopefully we won’t need to.” Allura intercepted. “It’s important that we respect the councillors wishes. They will not align with us if they cannot trust us.”

“Are we sure we should be aligning with them?” Keith asked, deciding to contribute in the conversation. “They don’t exactly sound like the most trustworthy allies themselves.”

Lance had to agree with their leader on that one. From what they’d heard of the Chalinians, they were savage and dangerous. Those were two words that Lance would usually associate with their enemies, not their allies.

“The Chalinians are powerful.” Allura replied. “Their numbers are unparallel to any of the other planets in this system. Having them on our side will be equal to having alliances with at least three other planets. It’s efficient.”

“That’s if they decide to align with us.” Lance muttered. “Is it really worth the risk?”

Hunk tilted his head slightly, eyeing Lance and Keith suspiciously. “You’re agreeing with Keith for once?”

Pidge nudged Hunk in the arm playfully. “Of course he is, Hunk. They’re in love now.”

Lance recognised the sound of Keith choking on his food, meanwhile Lance’s face went a hundred degrees hotter. 

He wasn’t in love with Keith! Pidge, that little shit, she was gonna pay for that.

Keith was coughing beside him, covering his face with both hands. Lance felt the urge to pull his hood over his head and hide.. or die, either one was a better alternative than this. Especially because now Hunk was looking at him with such pity that Lance almost choked himself.

“We’re not in love.” Keith shouted, recovering from his coughing fit. They didn’t dare look at each other.

“I don’t know, Keith. Lance looks pretty smitten.” Pidge nodded toward Lance. Of course, Lance was blushing like an idiot. Dammit Pidge better watch herself.

Lance wasn’t in love with Keith! Sure, Keith was nice to look at sometimes and Lance actually really enjoyed his company on the rare occasion that Keith didn’t decide to shut him out, but Lance wasn’t in love with Keith. He wasn’t even interested and he knew Keith wasn’t either.

“Pidge.” Shiro activated his dad voice which had always scared the life out of Lance. It seemed to work with Pidge because she immediately shut up.

After that, neither Lance nor Keith said anything until Lance finished his breakfast and they both left the room. 

—

So much for not making things uncomfortable.

—

“Welcome, Paladins of Voltron.” The councilwoman greeted them so warmly that Lance’s worries almost melted away completely. Almost.

She was a small woman, short in stature but that didn’t mean she was weak. Her eyes held a coldness that set Lance on edge. She was actually terrifying. He could see why they would want them as an ally. Facing such a fierce glare in battle would set anyone on edge.

Lance shifted his stance in discomfort. Unable to control his nervous glance as it flit around at their surroundings. The were in the main Chalinian city. For a main city, it wasn’t much to gawk at. The buildings were old and disheveled, some even had huge gaping holes in the walls. Lance’s anxious mind left him wondering how those holes had gotten there in the first place. He turned his attention back to the meeting.

Allura stepped forward, the flowers he and Keith had gone through so much effort to collect the night before were gripped carefully in her hand. They’d been cleaned and clipped since Lance last saw them. “Thank you for meeting with us, councilwoman. I know you must be busy.”

“Yes.” The woman replied. “I hope this wasn’t a mistake. I could be doing other things right now.” She said so passive aggressively that Lance felt his heart drop into his stomach. 

Okay, Allura hadn’t been kidding when she said these people were savages. They’d only just met and she was already roasting them.

Worst of all, Keith seemed to arch up at her comment and looked about three seconds from causing some kind of confrontation. Lance’s hand shot forward unexpectedly and he gripped Keith’s wrist, pulling him back. Keith turned toward him abruptly and Lance just shook his head in warning. He waited for Keith to settle down before he let his hand fall.

No fights. Not here. Not when the guards were watching them like they were on the lunch menu. They needed to leave introductions to Allura, she was more experienced with diplomacy, more cautious with her words.

Lance was worried though. These people were already proving to be difficult and Lance could sense the tension amongst the group. He could basically feel the agitation radiating from their own feisty leader and it made him nervous.

“I assure you that this is not a mistake.” Allura said, keeping her posture open and friendly. Lance wondered how she did it sometimes. “We came with an offering. Cortelene flowers, to show our sincerity in this alliance.” Allura offered the flowers to the councilwoman.

She took the flowers and inspected them cautiously. “I hope you did not come here with the intentions of charming your way into this alliance. I will not be swayed by your gifts.”

Allura definitely backed off this time. Lance knew she’d been expecting the flowers to help them earn the chalinians trust, not make them more cautious. Keith was stepping forward before Lance got the opportunity to stop him. His stance defensive.

“We offer the flowers out of respect. Voltron is not interested in buying our alliances. In return we ask that you will treat us with respect.” Keith confronted the councilwoman. His position unfaltering, even when the woman stepped toward him. 

Lance’s heart made its way into his throat as he waited impatiently. The woman’s fierce gaze regarded Keith with what Lance hoped was interest and not disgust. These people were known to have a quick temper, accusing them of disrespect probably wasn’t one of their leaders best decisions.

She regarded him carefully. “You show courage, paladin, confronting me here. I respect that. But do be careful who you challenge.”

Lance let out a breath that he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. They weren’t dead. He honestly thought these people were going to shoot them all down for Keith’s reckless decisions.

“I could offer you the same advice.” Keith said and Lance was holding his breath again. Keith needed to pipe it down a bit before he got them all killed. 

Lance really didn’t like the way that woman was looking at Keith. She smiled devilishly and Lance felt a shiver run up his spine. “Should we discuss the alliance then?” She said, turning away from them and guiding the team toward the large building in front of them.

Lance nudged Keith as he walked by, their paladin armour clinking together. “Careful.” He whispered in warning. 

“I’m not going to let her treat us like crap, Lance.” Keith looked irritated already and Lance knew when he got irritated he usually started picking fights. They really didn’t want to start a fight with these people. There were only seven of them as compared to a planet full of Chalinians and they were unarmed so excuse Lance for feeling anxious.

“And I’m not going to let you get us all killed.” Lance replied sternly. Keith nodded, his hair falling into his eyes at the movement. A silent truce not to provoke trouble.

—

Negotiations went surprisingly well. Maybe a little too well for Lance’s liking. After the councilwoman’s unwillingness to play nice during introductions, Lance hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. 

It hadn’t taken long at all for them to come to an agreement and before Lance knew it they were trudging out of the Chalinians tasteless city and back to the castle, ready to leave.

Despite this, Lance was relieved to be leaving the planet behind. He didn’t trust these people as far as he could throw them and they looked pretty damn heavy, Lance wasn’t sure he could throw them at all.

“You think we can trust these people?” He asked, nudging Keith who had been relatively silent since they’d left the council hall.

“No.” Keith replied without hesitation. 

Lance smiled. That was the exact answer he’d been expecting. “Me neither. Maybe next time we need help we should just forget to call them.”

Keith chuckled at that a little. “Why would we go through so much effort to form an alliance if we’re not going to use it.”

God, why did Keith have to be so reasonable? Lance shrugged. “Dunno. Why would we align with people we don’t trust?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Wasn’t my idea.” He muttered.

“Why didn’t you say anything? You’re meant to be our leader.” Lance complained, outraged at Keith careless attitude.

Keith frowned. “Maybe we should talk about this once we’ve left. I’m sure the Chalinians wouldn’t appreciate us speaking badly of them, especially while we’re on their home planet.” He raised an eyebrow at Lance.

Lance sighed. Keith was right. They didn’t have to talk about this right now. “Fine.” He huffed, turning toward their leader but he realised that Keith wasn’t listening. Instead, he was staring straight ahead, eyes wide and eyebrows scrunched.

Lance followed his gaze to where the castle sat, exactly where they’d left it. The only problem was that the barrier was down and the front door was open. 

He saw Allura running for the castle. Hunk and Pidge were chasing after her. He heard Keith’s bayard activate beside him and Shiro’s hand lit up as he raised it in defence. Lance turned slowly, surveying the area as he activated his own bayard.  
He raised his bayard, pointing the weapon back the way they’d come. After a quick scan he realised that the area was clear.

“There’s no one out here.” He said quietly. “We should get to the castle.”

Keith did one final scan of their surroundings before he deactivated his bayard. He gave Lance a quick nod of approval and then beckoned for them to follow him toward the castle.

—

Lance wasn’t sure what he’d expected. The lions to be gone? The castle to be destroyed? All he found was a broken energy crystal and an outraged Allura. She was pacing back and forth, muttering something about the chances of this happening twice. The crystal was in bad shape. From what he could tell, it had been hacked at repeatedly with some kind of weapon. It was in pieces, shattered crystal lay in chunks on the floor.

Lance didn’t drop his guard. He kept his eye out for the culprit, incase they were still lingering in the castle somewhere.

“Oh man.” Hunk was tugging anxiously at his hair, a nervous habit of his. “This is bad. This is really bad. What are we supposed to do?”

Keith, who had been previously inspecting the broken crystal, turned toward the princess. “Allura, is there any way you can get the castle working? We just need to get off this planet.”

Allura shook her head, her hand pressed firmly against her forehead. “Not without the crystal. What’s left of it is not enough to power the castle.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Lance suspected they were all trying to think of a solution. He tried himself, but came up with nothing. It was hopeless. The lions and the pods were all locked in their hangars, the castle was grounded, and even worse, the doors were opened and the barrier was down. They were completely vulnerable.

“So we’re stuck here, on a planet with the people who just sabotaged our castle. And there’s absolutely no way we can leave?” Pidge asked helpfully.

“I knew that councilwoman was up to something.” Keith muttered, stepping away from the crystal. He had his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his shoulders were tightly pinched. “She organised this.”

“We don’t know that, Keith.” Shiro interjected. “This could have been anyone. The councilwoman was with us the whole time.”

Lance noticed Keith’s eyes narrow. “Who else would it be? No one else knew we’d be here.” 

Lance felt the tension in the room shift with a familiar tone. Hearing Keith and Shiro disagree with each other was always uncomfortable for the team. Lance knew the display often drove a wedge between all of them. With half falling back to the familiarity of Shiro while others gravitated toward the more recent leadership of Keith. It was difficult not to subconsciously choose sides.

Lance knew it weighed on Keith the most. Pushing against Shiro’s advice was unfamiliar to him and more often than not Keith would cut himself out of the conversation after a dispute. Lance noticed Keith’s attention unwittingly land on him, then swiftly move away as Keith seemed to reprimand himself.

“It doesn’t matter.” Lance cut in. “We need to focus on getting away from here. Then we can decide what to do next.”

The team collectively seemed to agree on that at least and Lance was glad they were all back on the same page.

“What are our options?” Keith asked, addressing the group.

“Our other alliances!” Hunk suggests excitedly. He pulls his hands away from where they’d formerly been tugging at his hair. “We can contact the Balmerans, see if they can get another crystal for us.”

Lance felt Hunks excitement reaching him. A solution. Maybe they weren’t doomed to sit on this planet for eternity.

“That’s all well and good,” Pidge said glumly. “But the Balmerans can’t get the crystal here. They can’t leave their planet. There’s no shuttles or anything there.”

“The Olkari.” Lance muttered.

“What?”

“The Olkari.” He said again, louder this time. “They’re super techy. They’d have shuttles big enough for a crystal wouldn’t they?”

The princess started pacing again, unsure of herself. “You’re saying we should bring the Olkari here? I’m not sure that’s best. What if something happens?”

“We don’t have a choice, Allura.” Keith decided. Lance could tell he wasn’t happy with the plan but he understood that it was the only hope they had. “For all we know, whoever did this is working with the Galra and if they get ahold of the lions then all this would have been for nothing.”

Allura hesitated for a moment. “Okay.” She sounded defeated. “I’ll see what I can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finallyyyyyyyy. It’s been like three months since I update this fic and I’m so sorry to keep you all waiting.
> 
> Like always, your beautiful comments make my day so feel free to leave hundreds of them :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know in the comments if you want me to continue this fic.
> 
> I’ll probably post another chapter in a week or two anyway but just let me know.
> 
> Until then, adios ;)


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